Fw: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use

[Don Osborn]

Here's more. Not sure how much indigenous languages are used - perhaps the
websites would indicate.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Luis Barnola" <lbarnola at icamericas.net>
To: <gkd at phoenix.edc.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 2:31 AM
Subject: Re: [GKD] Invitation to Virtual Conference on Indigenous ICT Use


> On 09/03/2004, Michael Gurstein wrote / a ecrit:
>
> > The SMART First Nations Demonstration project is a three year initiative
> > led by the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Council in
> > partnership with the government of Canada that blends community
> > leadership with technological innovation.
>
>
> Hi Michael:
>
> I would like to add to your description that an excellent case study
> about K-Net, a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak tribal council, is
> available online. Sponsored by ICA/IDRC and prepared by Ricardo Ramirez,
> Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson and Don Richardson, a full set of
> different case studies (about the rapid development of K-Net's technical
> infrastructure and services, and its impacts on local health, education,
> and local economic development) is available online at:
>
> http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/K-Net-Spanish.pdf
> (Spanish)
> http://www.icamericas.net/Cases_Reports/K-Net/KNET-Final%20light%20ENG.pdf
> (English)
>
> A wonderful website with video footage and artful versions of these
> documents, is available here (Flash interface):
> http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html
>
> A one-page summary follows below:
>
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> Harnessing ICTs:  A Canadian first nations experience. K-Net Program.
>
> Ricardo Ramirez, Helen Aitkin, Rebekah Jamieson, Don Richardson
> Guelph, Canada
> November 2003
>
>
> This case study collection concerns the work of K-Net, a program of
> Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council. K-Net is providing
> information and communication technologies (ICTs) to First Nations
> communities in remote regions of northwestern Ontario, Canada. The
> network supports the development of online applications that combine
> video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed
> connectivity solutions. This case study collection includes an
> Introduction and four specialized case studies covering Network
> Development, Education, Health and Economic Development.
>
> The KO communities are part of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation (NAN), located in
> northern Ontario, across an area roughly the size of France. NAN
> includes a total population of approximately 25,000 people. The majority
> of this population is aboriginal and lives in remote communities with
> 300-900 inhabitants. For many communities, the only year-round access
> into or out of their area is by small airplane.
>
> What K-Net has achieved in less than a decade in terms of network and
> technical infrastructure development is impressive: several communities
> have gone from having one phone for 400 people four years ago, to
> accessing broadband services from individual homes today. There are few
> rural communities in Canada -- and particularly few remote ones -- that
> have experienced such a dramatic transformation in such a short period
> of time.
>
> The five case studies capture the rapid development of K-Net's technical
> infrastructure and services, and its impact on local health, education,
> and economic development. While the technologies offer new opportunities
> immediately, the full extent of their impact in these sectors will take
> some years to become known. The case studies were prepared using
> first-hand accounts from people in the KO communities, online resources,
> and a Sustainable Livelihoods conceptual framework. Please see
> <http://www.knet.ca> for the full multi-media version of this study,
> complete with video footage.
>
> This series is entitled Harnessing ICTs. Information and communication
> technologies are powerful, new vehicles that can be controlled and
> directed by indigenous communities to help them arrive at their own
> goals. K-Net's case studies offer stories of how people embrace change
> with modern tools while balancing the traditions and ways taught by
> their elders.
>
> This series is directed at both Canadian and international audiences,
> and in particular, readers from indigenous communities in Latin America
> and the Caribbean who may wish to replicate this effort. The K-Net
> experience offers "lessons that can travel"; most importantly, that
> community needs and demands drive technology and network infrastructure
> development. Any other group around the world wishing to create a
> similar network will have to respond to its own unique geographic,
> political, financial and social situation.
>
> ----------
>
> I hope you enjoy it,
> Luis Barnola
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Luis Barnola
> Senior Program Specialist
> Institute for Connectivity in the Americas - ICA
> www.icamericas.net
> 250 Albert Street, PO Box 8500, Ottawa ON, K1G 3H9 (Canada)
> PHONE (613) 236 6163 #2047  FAX (613) 567 7749
>
>
>
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